Quarter of TV sets to be connected by 2018

According to a new report, the number of TV sets connected to the internet is about to soar.

In five years' time, more than a quarter of the world's TV sets will be connected to the internet, according to a new study.

The Connected TV Forecasts Report claims that these devices will account for 26.8 per cent of the entire television market by 2018 - some 759 million units in total.

By comparison, just 5.1 per cent of TV sets were connected by the end of 2010 - though the figure is expected to have swelled to 12.4 per cent over the course of this year.

In terms of units, this represents an increase from 115 million TV sets to 307 million.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research - which compiled the study - said that devices such as Google's Chromecast and Sky's Now TV were already "shaking up the market" and that the three next-generation games consoles would further incentivise TV manufacturers to act more competitively.

"Connected TV is undergoing the largest upheaval in its short history," he commented.

At present, US consumers own around a third of all connected TV sets. However, this share is expected to drop to 23.5 per cent by 2018.